Okaeri
by Hellsig Otoupeim
Summary: Backwards, vignettes of a life dedicated to keeping him alive. Monsters have to stick together. Supermind and Supergirl. (Did it matter?)


**Disclaimer** : I do not own anything but my OC and the slight twist to the story line.

* * *

"_excuse me?" the secretary looked up and the black haired girl shuffled a little under her piercing blue eyes. "I'm looking for Akira. Akira Midorikawa. He was here?"

The secretary typed something into her computer, frowning softly before she shook her head.

"_Sorry, no one under that name is here."

"_ah… Do you have any other Akiras? He has black hair and red eyes? He was really sick when he came in."

The secretary typed again, scrolling down before shaking her head.

"_No, sorry. Do you want me to look for him on the system?"

Black eyes lit up, as the girl smiled widely.

"_yes please! He wasn't at the City central, and I know he hasn't been at the Northern Hospital."

The secretary looked at the girl slightly longer. (How old was she? Eighteen?) She looked tired and windswept. Her clothes stunk of sea salt, her lips were chapped and she had rosy pink skin on her arms, as if it were just one big scar.

"_I have an Akira Midorikawa at the Heiya Souko. Twenty two, for a brain tumour."

"_that's him… can I have the address please?"

The secretary printed the page, looking at the tired face of the girl in front of her. (She looked to be twenty two as well when her eyes took the worn out shine.)  
.

The quiet knocks on the door went unheard over the boisterous laughter inside the room. Quietly, the door opened just a crack. It swung silently on the hinges, allowing a slim and short girl through. The black haired girl slipped in, watching the group inside wearily.

They were all crowded around Akira's bed (his hair was cut short, and a white bandage ran around his head). A laptop was on his knees, as a video played.

The bad singing of an old and broken voice reached through the room, singing a song she recognised instantly. (The Promise)

Hello, Akira. The voice said coming from the computer. I hope you are well this year as well. I am sure your little friend is still watching over you, making sure you don't throw tantrums and checking you eat your vegetables. She bit harshly on her lower lip as she recognised the comforting rumble of professor Midorikawa. Akira was already crying, that wuss. Here is our promise. Take care of yourself. Have a fantastic day, Son. The music wafted in again, and Akira glanced over to her. (Of course he knew she was there. He could find her no matter where she went.) A huge smile peeked through, making the tears on his cheeks shine. (He had thought her dead, and had taken himself accountable for it.) She stepped forward to the bed, past all the people she didn't know and didn't care for, grabbing his hand and holding it tightly. (His hair was short and his brain had been operated, but he was still her Akira.)

"_okaeri." She said, smiling softly through her blurred vision as he allowed his fingers to thread through hers.

"_tadaima." He replied.

(It was all going to be alright.)

.

The glucose was pumping through her veins, making her hum with adrenalin. She felt energized, running away from the island with the speed of despair. (She had to get to Chiharu. That woman had a lifeboat she could steal once she had killed her. She would get to shore and survive. She would survive –it was all she was good for anyway. Survival. Carrying on with a broken body. Fixing herself.)

The explosion behind her rattled the sea, pushing her faster as the raft the blonde was on came into view. She was almost there. Freedom was on her lips.

(His freedom.)

The blonde woman never saw her approach. She was looking at the smoking island through her magnifying glasses, her gaze directed where she thought the two of them had died. The static replied to the woman's last words, and Chiharu was dead before she could even realise someone was on the lifeboat. (The black haired girl was nothing but thorough.)

.

"_so he left you behind."

She looked at the opened door, her eyes glazing slightly as the lack of food made her knees weak. (She hadn't eaten in too long. She wasn't going to be able to keep up with them.) Akira had left ( left her behind. He had left her behind), in a daze, shocked at the sudden recovery of the younger girl and half passed out due to the raging headache inside his mind.

"_how does it feel?" She looked away from the door quietly. Now was not the time to brood.

"_I don't know what you are talking about, Anthra." The annoying smile appeared on his lips.

"_I have something he wants." The hacker said, lifting the plastic case with the USB stick inside. Her breath caught in her throat. "What would you do for him to have that?"

She raised her chin. (What did he want? Should she act uninterested? Would he believe her if she did?)

"_what would you want?"

Anthra knelt in front of her, handing a bottle over and smiling mysteriously.

"_kill Chiharu for me, girl, and this is Akira's."

"_energy drinks?" she questioned, ignoring him and sniffing the bottle.

The blonde smiled again.

"_kill Chiharu for me, and this is Akira's."

She downed the bottle in one go.

.

"_We'll go back together, okay?" Akira was crying, again. He always cried when people were kind to him. The blonde's hand on his head was so reminiscent of someone else who had loved him. Akira was crying again, but she just leant there, out of sight and tucked against the wall –watching. This was not her time. (She wasn't kind. She wasn't needed. She was Akira's tool, not his salvation.)

"_Akira! Are you okay?" No. he wasn't. He wasn't okay –would he have collapsed if he was? He needed more pills. (She had a syringe of the stuff they used, but she would only give it to him if he asked.)

"_It's the usual. Every time I decipher something… My head hurts so much my body feels weak."

The blonde in a suit pulled Akira up. (Idiot; if he tugged on Akira's arm like that, it was going to break. The boy had to be carried, not dragged.)

.

'Even if you say that you don't want to go back, I wouldn't listen to you. I won't leave you alone anymore.'

The words echoed around them. Akira looked shell shocked, eyes wide and unseeing as the collapsed girl rested on his lap. (He let her rest there, he let her words reach him, he let her touch heal him.)

Why didn't he let her words touch him, when she had been by his side far longer?

.

"_when was the last time you ate?"

She ignored him, walking towards the last gate. (The door was bolted, looking like every other gate then had gone through –but he knew it was the last.)

His nails dug into her shoulder, drawing her attention.

"_when was the last time you ate?"

She shrugged quietly.

"_yesterday, I think."

Akira let his sigh hit her neck gently, closing his eyes as his breath fanned on her exposed skin.

"_what a pair we make."

(Supermind and Supergirl.)

She snorted quietly, approaching the last computer. It flashed to life under her fingers and Akira pinched the bridge of his nose. (One last time. One last breath.)

"_leave me. I can get to M's testament on my own now. I don't need you anymore." He pulled away from her back, his neck bowing under the weight of his head as he tried half heartedly to untie himself.

(If you leave now, you'll make it; you'll survive. I'm dead already.)

"_don't be stupid, Akira. You can't even keep your eyes open." She pulled the knot tighter around her hips, stretching her favourite hoodie of his.

(I've told you a thousand times. I won't leave you behind.)

His lips brushed her neck as he hid his eyes against her skin. One last time. One last breath.

"_show me the fucking code."

.

"_how bad?"

"_shut up!" he snarled, holding his head between two headaches. She laughed at him, roughly rolling him over and tossing two pills in his mouth.

"_swallow, idiot."

"_what? No water?" he bit, acidic. She shrugged, rising up from her crouch. Her joints groaned swiftly, and he saw her grimace a little. (Her metabolism was slowing. Her cheeks looked sullen. She looked like she hadn't eaten in ages.) Akira dry swallowed the pain killers, allowing her to pull him to a seating position –she had done it so many times before it felt like second nature for her to take his hoodie off and hoist him on her back. His pride had stopped stinging a long time ago. (This was her, not them. His pride didn't matter anyway.) She secured his weight in place using the hoodie and Akira allowed his arms to dangle over her shoulders. (They were longer than when he was a kid, and he could now comfortable curl them around her neck. She never said if she minded.) She started walking, and Akira allowed his flushed face to rest against the cool skin of her neck. His headache was dulling, and the pills were making him sleepy. He hoped he was almost done with the decrypting.

(Akira let his eyelashes brush against her skin as he counted the silver lines.)

"_you were a bit dramatic down there."

Akira chose to ignore the silent question, rather ribbing her words.

"_So what? You were back from patrolling already?"

"_don't be stupid."

(I am your happy memory. Remember when we held each other's hands and promised the night wouldn't last? Wasn't that a happy memory? Remember when we shared a cake and you smeared cream on me? Wasn't that a happy memory? Remember when you gave me a daisy and I thanked you with a peck on the cheek? When we were twelve? Wasn't that a happy memory?)

.

"_I'm not good with words, Akira –but… I'm not going to let you go there alone. If you are going, then I'm coming." (Please please please; don't forsake me as well. Please please please let me stay by your side.)

Crimson flashed, and before he could answer, she carried on.

"_I know you hate it when I say that; but I'm not leaving you alone. Eternity isn't interesting anyway, and if I'm going to die in five years; then I might as well die with you tomorrow."

"_I don't want you to come." He finally bit out.

"_I'm sorry, did I stutter?" gone were the truths. She was back to being a bitch. A stubborn bitch, at that. "This is not your choice. I'm going, and if you disagree then suck it up. I'm coming. I'm not leaving you. If you want M's testament, then I'll bloody well come with you to find it."

(She was going to die. She was going to die if she came, just like he was going to die.)

"_who do you think you are? You are not coming! You just want it for yourself! You are working with them, aren't you? You are just going to take it and leave me!"

The psychosis was back, haunting and giggling in his mind. They were all against him, even Chiharu, even her. They were all against him. They would all kill him. They didn't like him. They just wanted to use him. Only Grand Father had ever loved him. (Please, please, please. Don't come.)

"_don't be stupid."

Black and crimson clashed.

"_I'm your tool. Not theirs."

(Please, please, please. Don't leave me behind.)

.

"_Why are you angry?"

Akira's fingernails dug into the soft skin of her shoulder, the boy kneeling on the bed behind her. She had just sat down, back stiff as she fought the need to shout at him. (Akira shouted. She remained silent. That was how they were. She didn't shout, she didn't have the right to.)

"_Why are you angry!"

Akira's fingers were drawing blood from her, his bony hands shaking her violently. She forced herself free –stepping away from him. He reeled back. (This was the first time she shrugged him off.)

"_wha…"

"_you are going to get yourself killed."

Her voice had been so cold, so frozen when she spoke to him. He hadn't heard her speak to him like that in a long time. It… it bit. Akira rose in anger.

"_I don't care! I don't care! What do I have LEFT? Why should I even CARE if I die or live? You know what? Leave me alone! Carry on –live all eternity, like you can with your mutant regeneration genes, and don't fucking talk to me. Go away! LEAVE!"

He had grabbed her shoulders as he spoke, hands leaving behind purple marks that would fade within seconds. She looked at him, eyes clashing as crimson and black tried to win this battle of wills. She wanted out. She wanted them to leave and never come back and start over. He wanted to find M's testament. She was the first to look away.

"_fuck you." she said, so tiredly and dejectedly that Akira knew he had won. (He always won.)

His lips on hers didn't erase the bitter taste in her mouth though. (But she did forget to care about it when his hands did those wicked, wicked things)

.

"_I wonder where that mutt of yours is…"

Akira looked up from the blankets he had been hiding in, suspicions as to how Chiharu had managed to find him peeking in his brain. (Had she betrayed him?)

"_I decoded the key to M's testament."

The dark haired girl felt all hope exit her lungs as she heard the sharp intake of breath from Chiharu. She was hiding behind the bathroom door, having booked a hotel room for Akira and herself up until they decided where to go from there. They had managed to escape Anthra, and Akira was handing them right over again.

"_join me, Chiharu."

Her fists clenched by her side. Join him? Why? Wasn't she enough? She bit the inside of her cheek when Akira laughed. (He didn't laugh with her anymore. He never laughed for her.)

.

Where was Akira? She had heard his shouts, (everyone had) but he had suddenly gone silent, and she didn't like the atmosphere around the place anymore. (There was something going on, something that meant Akira wasn't okay and no one would tell her –she was just a bitch.)

She saw Chiharu close a door (the infirmary?) as she rounded the corner, quickly pressing herself flush out of sight. What was Chiharu doing there? The blonde walked away from the door, her back facing the black haired girl who remained out of sight until she could no longer hear her footsteps.

"_Akira?" she called quietly, entering the room but not switching the light on. He was lying on the bed, linked to an IV drip and buried so deeply under the cover only a mop of black hair peeked through. Quickly, she made her way over to his bed (what was in the IV?), checking Akira's pulse and breathing. He was just knocked out.

She shook him violently.

"_wake up." She ordered, aware of how small their window of time was. Tired crimson peeked out.

"_out…" he tiredly murmured. "we must… out." She nodded once, sharply, before she removed his IV, tying it up in a knot, and grabbed the blanket he was dwarfed in

"_anything you need from the room?"

Akira shook his head no, already dozing off against her back a she secured him around herself.

She opened the window, assessing the drop. Second floor. Both of them jumped out of sight.

.

They had separate rooms, had had separate rooms since they had been considered adults, six years ago. Their rooms communicated through a door they never bothered to close, both of them too accustomed to the other to really mind the ajar door that allowed reassurance that they were still alive. (They were survivors.)

Akira was lying on her bed when she came back to her room, the purple bruise already fading from where she hadn't ducked in time. (She was fast, but it didn't mean she would be able to duck a machine gun throwing tennis balls at her.) She dumped herself on the bed, right next to the boy who was partially dressed and still steaming from the shower.

"_headaches?" she quietly asked, noticing the soft crunching of his brow.

She quietly sighed when he hmmed yes at her, placing her head on his chest and listening to his rhythmic heart pumping as her hand circled his wrist. (It was safe.)

.

"_your task was simple."

She did not shy away of the hand that broke her arm. She'd be healed by the morning;

"_your task was simple, and yet you managed to fail it. How hard was it to keep an eye on Akira and extract him? Instead, the opposition had to get involved and Chiharu was obligated to strike a deal with them."

Her femur was broken by a metal rod she had not noticed Kawa-san pick up.

"_you have failed us, brought dishonour to me and have let Akira deal with his psychosis alone. You are worthless. Go. I do not wish to see your face."

She remained kneeling until Kawa-san had left the room, rising to her feet with a wince once the door had been shut behind him. (Her ankle was twisted. She had a bruise the size of a watermelon around her left eye and Akira was sure to notice the bone pushing against the skin of her leg. )

She had risked Akira's health. She hadn't been able to help him. She wasn't there.

.

"_Akira!"

He could hear her voice, calling out to him across the panel of wood. She was just in the adjacent room –so close and yet so, so far.

"_Akira!"

(She was scared, he could hear it in her voice.) She could hear the soft whimpering sound he made, she could practically feel his pain oozing across from where he was slowly going insane.

"_hel… help." He murmured quietly, hopingknowing she would come and save him. She always did. Always.

The footsteps of a man barely registered in his fever induced delirium. She was so close. So, so close, and yet so, so far.

.

"_you do clean up nicely…" Chiharu mused, watching the twenty two years old wearing a simple black dress. She had been coerced into going to the engagement party of two rich brats in order to protect Akira, who was there to ensure the whole thing would fail.

She was wearing hills she wouldn't be able to run in (shouldn't be, but then Kawa-san was nothing if not thorough.) and the dress had two long slits on either side for "practicality". (If they looked at her legs, they weren't talking to her.)

Her lipstick matched the colour of Akira's eyes.

The black haired bodyguard blankly looked ahead.

"_too bad Akira isn't going to have the time to enjoy seeing you like that, isn't it girl? He'll be smuggled in by Anthra. Your job is to make sure he gets out of the ship before anyone realises he's cracked the program."

.

"_I'll be across the street from where you park your scooter. If you need anything, I'll be just a call away. I'll naturally keep an eye on you."

Crimson met black.

(If you want to run, I'll run with you.)

.

"_your hair needs a trim." She said, sitting quietly on the bed beside him. Akira hmmed absently, aware that he indeed needed to cut his dark hair. It was starting to tangle when he slept, which was really annoying.

"_wash your hair and I'll do it." she said again, gently pushing him towards the bathroom they shared. Akira grumbled something, but otherwise obediently followed her instructions. He popped back out ten minutes later, body still wet and a simple towel tied around his waist. She motioned for him to sit on the chair she had laid out, but Akira chose to slouch on the bed instead –she grumbled and complied, getting the scissors out from the drawer she kept it in. (Potential weapon; therefore next to her bed.)

"_cut it short." He ordered her, looking down at his lap as she finger combed the damp tresses. It was her turn to give him a non-answer, eyes smiling as she slowly got to work. (She liked cutting his hair, and he liked letting her cut it. She rarely did, nowadays, but every time she would brush it first, running her fingers against his scalp and gently massaging his sore head.)

The soft clipping of scissors hit his ears as he felt the butterfly touches of cut strands gather on his skin. Her hand was on his bare shoulder, trying to steady herself as she precisely cut. He felt her shift, moving to his side. She had two fingers out, grabbing strand of hair and making sure it was equal all the way around. She finished with his bangs, pulling them out flat and snipping a tiny bit away.

"_I asked you to cut it short" Akira grumbled. She never did, but he always asked anyway.

"_I like it long." She murmured against his skin.

"_why?" he questioned, inquisitive. (why long? It was shaggy and unkempt when it was long.)

She bit her lip, quietly trying to word an answer that wouldn't put either at a disadvantage.

"_everybody here has short hair. I don't want you to be like them." she eventually whispered, looking down at the fallen black hair. "Even my hair was cut short –for a girl at least."

He leaned comfortably into her as she placed the scissors back into the drawers. She reclined back, dragging the now sleepy boy with her and choosing to ignore the stray hair tickling her skin.

"_short hair looks good on you" Akira mumbled quietly before he went to sleep.

She smiled softly and closed her eyes, her hand encircling his wrist. (No it didn't, but she was glad anyway.)

.

"_how did Hyperion go?" she asked quietly as he entered the room. Akira had the face of bad days, his brow scrunched and looking so tense he would snap in half. She shuffled on her bed, and he joined her there, resting his forehead against her collarbone.

"_I don't want to talk about it." he snarled. His headache was bad.

.

"_fuck…" Akira quietly whispered, looking at the big black bruise that stretched across her back.

"_I fell." She replied, laconic.

"_the hell you fell! Don't take me for an idiot! Stop! HEY!" he screamed, turning to the door which had shut behind them. "Stop hurting her!"

She placed a soft hand on his arm, begging him to quiet down.

"_they'll try to sedate you if you don't stop. Come. Let's grab something to eat."

Her hand encircling his wrist, they left the room in search of food.

.

"_happy twentieth." She quietly whispered to the man next to her. (He was a man, but still a scared boy.)

Akira stopped pretending he was asleep, turning to face her as he hid his lips in the crook of her neck.

She quietly began to hum Daisy Bell.

.

"_FASTER!"

The girl tripped, landing face down on the water surface and sinking under. She propelled herself up as soon as she had regained her bearings and was sure that up was, indeed, up. She had swallowed water when she had fallen, the liquid burning her lungs as she coughed it back out. A sharp hit clipped her around the head and caused her to slip back under. Cursing, she swam away, breaking the surface three metres from where the boat was. Kawa-san snarled at her.

"_get back up. You'll be able to run across water by tonight, girl, or Akira doesn't get his meds."

.

"_does it hurt? Are you scared?"

Akira's face was very close to her own, his breath mingling with hers. She was doing her best not to shiver from the electricity running down her spine. His teeth nipped at her neck, biting harshly down on the soft skin and breaking it. Blood beaded quietly, and he licked it away, revealing unblemished skin underneath. Her veins were pumping with adrenalin as the bored boy placed a large hand on her waist.

"_are you scared?" he asked again, his lips so close to hers she could taste them already.

"_of course not." she replied softly.

The honesty hit him around the face, slapping all thoughts away. (She was his, his tool and his friend. She was his to break and mend and tear apart. She was his shield, and she would protect him until she died.)

.

"_faster!" the blow landing on her arm was unwanted, but not unexpected. She forced herself to climb the sleek wall quicker, ignoring the fire bolts running through her radius. It was already healing anyway.

.

"_You are with THEM, aren't you? You don't care about grandfather! You don't care about me! You only want to use me! You don't care about me! You'll be the one to kill me when they ask you to! You don't even like me! You hate me! I hate you! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"

Akira balled himself up in a corner, lashing out at her as she quietly sat on her bed. She was looking at him, staring into his crimson eyes with the depth of her charcoal abyss. Her eyes were empty, so empty Akira felt some sort of truth slip through the psychosis in his mind.

"_it hurts…"

He had been decoding today. They were using him, forcing him to work and earn their lives by dragging him into madness. They were forcing him to feel the pain and the fear –all for their own benefit.

She knelt before him.

"_I'm here" she whispered, gathering him in her arms. He gripped tightly onto her shirt.

.

"_it hurts! Arg. I don't want to die!"

The little black haired girl (she wasn't so little anymore, was she? She was fourteen now.) Dropped out of her bed, walking over to Akira's and slipping in beside him. She grabbed his wrist, silently encircling it in her hand as she searched the side table for one of the syringes she hated so much. (They made him hurt more when he couldn't have them.) Silently, she uncapped the little plastic thing and gently inserted it in his vein, at the crook of his elbow. Akira calmed slowly as the painkillers began to take effect.

He was whimpering, crying.

"_Shh, Akira. It's alright. I'm here." She whispered quietly. He couldn't hear her over the loudness of his mind, but she knew he could feel her breath on his face and perceive the soft rumbling of her voice.

Akira slowly stilled. She smiled softly as he cracked an eye open. Crimson tiredly searched for her, and she squeezed his wrist a little tighter.

"_I'm here" she whispered into the darkness.

.

"_this is your room. I don't want to hear a word from you. From now on, you are here to protect Akira. Understood? You'll be trained to protect him. With your ability, he should never get injured. If he gets injured it's your fault."

The stern man opened a door, pushing the little girl in.

"_you'll be sharing with Akira. I don't want a word. Clear?"

The little girl nodded.

"_answer me, girl!

"_I understand, Sir." The man made a noise of discontentment at her blank tone, pushing the little girl in further.

"_I want you at the training grounds in ten minutes. I'll be training you from now on. You may call me Shishou, Kawa-san or Kawa-sama. Clear?"

"_yes, Kawa-san."

"_good. Don't make me wait."

.

"_GO AWAY! I don't want to leave! Where is Grandfather!"

The muffled shouts came from the other side of the wall. The little black haired girl looked anxiously at the fading yellow paint. (What were they doing to Akira?)

Her own door opened, and the little girl huddled further into her blankets. (Were they coming for her as well?)

"_get up, girl."

It was a stern man, with dark hair and a sharp chin. The little girl shivered, hugging her blankets tighter –she didn't have a teddy bear anymore. She quietly got down from her bed, her small feet pattering along the ground. The tiles were really cold and she wasn't wearing any shoes. She wondered if they were finally going outside. (The professor took Akira outside all the time. Why did no one take her outside?)

The man walked briskly, but it wasn't a problem for her to follow. She was feeling a little peckish though. The corridors were really tall, and there were a lot of people she had never seen. (She was scared.) She sped up.

The man briskly grabbed her collar, pulling her backwards.

"_don't make me regret this." He hissed out silently. The girl looked up at him fearfully. She ducked her head and stuck close to his leg. (Would he hurt her?)

They stopped walking in front of a big door, and she was pushed inside as soon as it opened. She stumbled, righting herself as she looked up to the people inside. There was a young blonde man, with eyes ringed in black lashes and who smiled softly at her. He made her scared. The little black haired girl shuffled nervously.

"_stop moving." A mean voice barked from next to her. She stiffened, straightening her spine in fear and doing as told; she was still as a statue until a screaming Akira was brought it, carried by another strange man. His cheek was really red. (She wondered if they were going to hurt them as well.) Akira cried out again, shouting for the Professor, and a blonde woman stepped forth with a syringe in her hand. The little girl's eyes widened, and she was about to move when the hand on her collar halted her again. The man sent her a sharp look.

"_how much did you say for the two kids?" asked the blonde man with the cold cold eyes.

"_two millions dollars each."

He turned slowly towards the man who had replied, cocking his head slightly.

"_the girl doesn't look like much. And the boy seems like more of a bother than anything. What did you say again?"

The other man in a dark suit swallowed audibly.

"_one and a half million for the girl."

The blonde made a sharp movement of his hand, and a briefcase was handed over to the man in a dark suit. He was sweating a lot, and she wondered if he was really scared as well. (If he was scared, was he nice?)

"_two million for both."

.

"_Akira! Girl, you as well! Smile for the camera!"

The two kids turned beaming smiles to the dark haired man holding a video recorder.

"_how old are you today, Akira?"

"_Nine!" the little boy replied proudly! "It's been 3,412,863 seconds since this the last vide..."

"_come, come. Not his now…" Professor Midorikawa said.

"_my body and heart will become big!" a little Akira replied, smiling widely. The girl, who had been eating cake until then, peeped up.

"_I'll help you!" she smiled, showing one missing tooth. "If you give it to me, I'll make it the biggest! And then you'd never be without me!"

"_now, now children. That's enough, isn't it?" the professor asked, somewhat sternly. He shot an uneasy glance at the camera." (Please don't judge them. Please don't be afraid.)

.

"_what are you here for?" Came the quiet question from across the wall, one evening. Akira slumped his shoulders and looked down at his bare feet.

"_I can see numbers."

He heard a sniffle from the other side.

(Was she crying?)

"_and you?"

The answer didn't come for a long time.

"_I'm too fast."

.

"_are you there?"

"_I'm always there, Akira."

"_it hurts…"

The voice was quiet for a second.

"_I know."

"_I don't want it to hurt anymore."

He started crying quietly.

"_I know."

"_IT HURTS!" he screamed, holding his head as he dragged his blankets to the floor. A sharp pounding came from the door.

"_quiet in there!"

He whimpered.

"_Akira?"

A pitiful sound escaped his lips as a scratching sound came from the other side. A small bit of plaster detached itself from the wall and a small aperture appeared. Akira put his eye against the whole.

A black orb stared back at him.

"_I'm here." The soft girl voice said.

.

"_What? That's not a name!" the little boy shouted.

"_well, that's mine."

The voice on the other side was very quiet, calmly replying to his childish remark.

"_don't you want a real name?" Akira asked in outrage.

"_isn't it good enough?"

Sharp bangs sounded against his door.

"_who are you talking to, MM?" someone hollered angrily from the other side. "Be quiet!"

Akira huddled closer to the tiny crack in the wall, hidden behind his bed.

"_are you still there?" he whispered.

"_I'm always there."

.

Sharp knocks sounded against his bedroom wall.

Shot short short. Pause. Short. Pause. Short long short short. Pause. Short long short short. Pause. Long long long. Silence.

Akira neared the wall, surprised. Experimentally, he knocked once back.

Shot short short. Pause. Short. Pause. Short long short short. Pause. Short long short short. Pause. Long long long. Silence.

"_hello?" he called out, weary. (Was this another test? Another trap? Were they trying to make his head hurt again?) A muffled voice sounded through.

"_can you hear me?"

He dropped to his knees, trying to find where the muffled voice came from. The sound reached him again.

"_hello?"

"_are you there?"

It was a soft voice, definitely a girl, Akira decided. There was someone here with him.

"_yeah. Who are you?"

"_are they hurting you as well?"

The little boy shuddered at the thought of this afternoon's experiments.

"_don't speak about it!" he shouted.

The voice didn't reply.

"_say something!" he ordered, scared he had chased the voice away.

"_what your name?"

"_Akira."

"_nice to meet you, Akira. I'm Girl."


End file.
